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5.18.2011

The Rainbow Cake

I've been dying to make a rainbow cake. But I've never had a good reason to. Typically the cakes I'm asked to do are focused on something else-a birthday theme, a character, or the recipient just feels 'too old' for a rainbow cake.

But last week Kerri asked me to make a simple Thank You cake for some ladies at church that would be served to the kids in daycare.
Bingo.

I started with a double batch of cake batter and divided it equally among six bowls. I've seen other pictures where cakes like this are done with a fade (light to dark pink) or two alternating colors. So mix as many colors as you want.

I used whatever colors I had on hand (I have a lot, don't get me wrong) but some of the Wilton colors have been hanging around for a while. Honestly, I prefer the AmeriColor gels soooo much more. They are easier to work with (no digging it out with a toothpick) and the colors are great. The electric pink is my absolute fav.

I mixed the colors in. The cakes will bake the colors that you see. So if you want an intense red, add a lot of red. It's not going to get darker or lighter. WYSIWYG.

Once baked, level the cakes and start stacking! I really wanted to just leave the cake like this. So pretty! But where's the fun or surprise in that?
At this point Brad wanted to know if the layers were fruit flavored. He really wanted the cake to taste like Trix. It did not. BUT, it could have. A small amount of extract (or even juice) could have flavored these layers cherry, orange, lemon, lime, [blueberry?] and grape.

I covered it all in icing and topped it with colored jimmies. I liked the tiny hint of what was to come!

I could have left it just like that, but it was a thank you cake after all. So I wrote little happys all over it.

According to Kerri, it was a hit. She said there was a piece left over and she said it could be thrown away. Another mom yelled, "NO! I mean, we'll take it home."

I took the left over cake and made colored cake pops. I didn't eat one myself and when I gave one to Brad to bite into so I could grab a photo, he shoved the whole thing in his mouth. I guess he liked it.

Notes about this cake. The layers were almost exactly what I needed to make six cakes. There wasn't much room for error. I had enough cake left over to make 12 cake pops. That's it. I use a cake saw to make sure my cakes are level and exactly the same. I recommend it always. This is a tall cake. Technically it's three 'normal' cakes tall. It can get cumbersome on an 8 inch cake. So be careful. If the cake got much taller, it would have needed internal support to keep it steady (IMHO) which would have taken away from the layers. Since there are so many layers and colors, it's OK if the layers are on the thin side. Mine were around 3/4 of an inch tall.